A Bubble In Time
by The Cat's Paw
Summary: While Serena is house sitting for Darien, a portal to the past somehow opens up in the living room. Fluffy SerenaXDarien, a fun fic set in first season and post Galaxia stuff. Time travel fun.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! I've been reading _so much_ Sailor Moon lately. Aside from house hunting, it's really the only thing I've been doing. Honestly, though, considering how much I've loved the series since I was in my teens, I'm surprised it's taken me this long to write anything!**

**Set post Galaxia and during the rainbow crystal arc of the first season.**

**In any case, disclaimer that I don't own the Sailor Moon verse goes here. ;)**

_**A Bubble In Time**_

**Chapter One**

Serena was humming happily to herself as she made her way to Darien's apartment, carefully balancing her shopping bags. Her fiancé was gone for a week, and she was looking after his place while he was away. She was secretly using it as a test run for living here when he inevitably asked her to move in with him. (Mina was _sure_ that it was happening soon, she was getting certain vibes from him, apparently)

The doorman let her in, smiling a greeting as she almost skipped into the building. She waved and trilled a greeting even as she passed him and headed towards the elevator. Darien's apartment (hers too soon, she was _sure_ of it!) was beckoning, though, so she didn't stop to chat with the man.

Once inside the apartment, she set about putting away the groceries she'd brought with her. Darien didn't have any _real_ food in here, just all nutritious stuff. Not chocolate, no ice-cream, nothing! So she'd popped down to the local market and picked up a few things, so that she wouldn't _starve_ to death while she was here.

Serena packed everything away, save for a pack of dango, then munched on that as she lounged on the couch, flipping through a manga she'd picked up. She became completely engrossed in the story, to the point that she was blocking out everything around her. That was fine, it was what usually happened when she was reading something new.

It was because of that, that she didn't notice a strange bubble of some sort forming behind her, and was therefore completely taken off guard when it exploded, sending her flying with a pained and panicked squeal, forward onto the floor. Groaning in annoyance, Serena got to her feet as quickly as she could, readying herself for an attack, only to freeze at the sight of what seemed to be a portal in the living room.

A portal? What the heck was a portal doing here? It didn't look like any of the ones that she'd seen before, and of course, over her career as Sailor Moon, she'd seen her fair share. It was kinda like a bubble, the sort you blew out of those soapy sticks but without the soap, and large enough for a person to walk through if they wanted. Her fingers twitched with the need to call Amy over to analyse it.

Stepping closer, but still keeping her distance, Serena tried to see if she could see through to whatever was in the portal, or on the other side of it. There was a room, a very _familiar_ room. On the other side of the portal, it seemed that there was another version of Darien's apartment. Was it the past? The future? An alternate reality? A _trick_? She scowled at that last one.

"Hello?" she called, not _really_ expecting an answer, so when a person appeared before it, and she gasped at who it was.

"Darien?"

"Meatball head?"

Serena scowled. "Don't call me that!" she snapped, then wondered why on earth Darien was even calling her that.

The past? If so, she _totally_ called it.

"What are you doing in my apartment?" he demanded.

"House sitting," Serena said. "What are you doing in a bubble?"

"I'm not in a bubble," he snapped at her. "Why the heck am I letting you of all people house sit for me?"

Serena poked her tongue out at him, then closed her eyes and thought a moment. Opening them a moment later, she said, "This is obviously some sort of time travel bubble. What's happening over there in your time?"

"Time travel?" Darien repeated, then scoffed, "That's ridiculous!"

"It is not!" Serena insisted. "I've already come across it a few times, and it's the only thing that fits!"

"…How on earth have you come across time travel before?" Darien asked, a little confused. "You know what, never mind. I don't want to know. So, time travel? Still not really believing it, Meatball Head."

Serena rolled her eyes at him. "Stop calling me that," she told him, then stepped closer to the portal.

"What are you doing?" he asked her as she walked around the bubble, noting that she seemed to have an almost 3-D view of the past apartment.

"I really think I should call Amy," she mused, ignoring his question. "She could analyse it, possibly even close it."

"Why would your friend Amy be able to do that?" Darien asked.

Serena seemed to cotton on to the fact that it was likely that this Darien didn't even _know_ that she was Sailor Moon, or about the other Scouts. "What year is it there?" she asked.

He told her and she grimaced. "What?" he asked. "What year is it there?"

"It's been… three and a half years," she told him, thinking that his version of her was likely fourteen or fifteen there. "Four, if the me there is still fourteen."

"…You're fifteen," Darien said.

Serena took a deep breath, then said, "I'm eighteen."

His brow quirked at that.

Suddenly Serena had an idea. It was a bad one, and Raye would probably yell at her for it if she was here. But Serena _really_ wanted to do this. Her instincts would prevent it if was harmful. Probably. They were really good for self-preservation, though she'd trained in fighting instincts along with it over the years.

So, Serena lifted a hand, and reached out to touch the portal.

"What the hell are you doing?" Darien snapped, even as her hand connected, and a flash of light momentarily blinded her.

Blinking away the spots before her eyes, Serena looked around to see that she was now in the past Darien's apartment. "It worked!" she murmured, half disbelievingly, half triumphantly.

"You idiot!" Darien was suddenly in her face, features angry as he grabbed her arms and shook her lightly. "What the hell were you thinking? What if that had killed you?"

Serena looked up into Darien's eyes, a little awed at the worry there, even this early in the time line. Then she shrugged and said, "I had a feeling it would work, I knew I'd be fine."

He released her and pushed himself away from her, running a hand through his hair in an obvious sign of frustration. Serena glanced around the apartment, seeing it looking unchanged over the years kinda bumming her out. Well, she was going to change _that_ in her own time. She looked over to Darien, who was now staring at her, and she lightly flushed.

"So…" she began conversationally. "Are you looking for the rainbow crystals yet?"

A small part of her really, _really_, enjoyed the look of shock on his face. He was stunned, she could tell. Serena grinned at him cheekily.

"How do you know about the rainbow crystals?" he asked.

"They lead to the Silver Crystal?"she said, then reached into the top of her blouse (gleefully noting the slight flush of his features at the thought of what _else_ was down there) and pulled out her Imperium Crystal. "This thing, right?"

And she'd stunned him yet again. His mouth flapped open and shut like a fish out of water as his brain obviously tried to comprehend what was going on. Finally, he asked in an almost strangled voice, "Why do you have it?"

"Why do you think, brainiac?" she said. "I have it because it's _mine_."

Serena swung the crystal back and forth on the gold chain it was on, then stuffed it back into her blouse. She saw all the conflicting emotions pass over his face, that at this point in her life she would _never_ have been able to see. She could almost _see_ the gears turning in his head, and saw the moment that he reached his conclusion in the split second before his eyes widened and he rather shakily spoke.

"Does this mean… that _you're_ the princess?" he asked in an almost whisper.

Serena smiled brilliantly.

**So what did you think? Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**New chapter! So, this was mostly done when I'd posted the first chapter, but the last 300-400 words were annoying the _heck_ out of me! But it's done now. :)**

**Disclaimer that I don't own anything belonging in the Sailor Moon universe goes here. :P**

**Chapter Two**

Darien was sitting on his lounge, head in his hands and bemoaning his life (probably), while Serena sat on a barstool in his kitchen, her uber-updated Sailor communicator on the bench in front of her. (she'd popped back through the bubble briefly to retrieve it, ignoring the strangled noise Darien had made at her doing that so nonchalantly) She was scrolling through it, trying to see if it would still connect with the older versions here in the past. So far it seemed to be working, she found the communicators of the girls quite easily. Even Mina's, which apparently wasn't connected with the others just yet.

"So…," she mused, unaware of Darien's gaze suddenly focusing on her. "Moon, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter. But no Venus yet. Hmm."

She hacked into her past versions communicator, glad that Amy had taken the time to teach her this. She giggled at the things her younger self had put in there. Luna found out about Serena's messing with it about a week before they defeated Beryl, and gave her one _heck_ of a lecture about abusing Scout business only things. Her communicator, which was like mini laptop of sorts, sleeker than the usual sort you found, bleeped at her, and she saw a Scout communication come up.

Serena hit a few buttons, then a two way communication came up on her screen. There was Raye's furious face, and her own, younger, pouting one.

"_Serena_!" Raye yelled. "_Where the hell are you? You were supposed to be here for the meeting_ twenty minutes ago!"

"_Gimme a break, Raye_!" younger Serena whined, and the future one winced at the decibel. Was she _really_ that annoyingly loud? "_I just got out of detention, so I'm on my way! Sheesh! It's not like the Negaverse __is attacking, or the __alert__ would have gone off!_"

"_That's not the point, meatball brains!_" Raye snapped. "_Just get over here, alright?_"

"_Fine, fine,_" young Serena said, and the communication shut off.

Serena sighed. Raye really hadn't changed much over the years. Sure, she was more mature now, both of them were really, but they still enjoyed their arguments every now and then. It wasn't mean spirited or anything, it was how they expressed their sisterly love. Sister bickered after all, right?

"Raye's a Sailor Scout, isn't she?" Darien asked from right behind her, causing Serena to almost jump out of her skin.

"Uh… sure," she said, then closed her communicator and stuck it in the pocket of her skirt. "You finished having your mental breakdown over this yet?"

Darien huffed and glared at her. "Can you really blame me?" he asked. "I've spent this whole time looking for the princess, and it was _you_ all along."

A thought seemed to occur to him. "Do the Sailor Scouts know?" he asked. "Did _you_ know?"

Serena shook her head. "We all found out at the same time," she told him, and he seemed at least _slightly_ mollified by this.

"So Raye is… Sailor Mars, I presume?" Darien asked, and Serena reluctantly nodded. "Then… Amy must be Mercury, and Lita would be Jupiter then?"

"Yeah," Serena admitted. "You know, when we sort this whole time bubble thing out, you should probably forget that you ever knew this."

Darien shook his head. "I doubt I could," he murmured, looking down at her seriously. "So, who's Sailor Moon, then?"

Serena raised an eyebrow. She would have thought that would be obvious. "I am," she told him matter-of-factly.

"Really?" Darien asked a bit disbelievingly. "You are? Klutzy Meatball Head Serena is Sailor Moon? Wait, forget I asked. With the amount of times I've had to _save_ you, I'm really _not_ all that surprised."

Serena punched him as hard as she could with the back her hand, her left hand, which was closest to him, and scowled. "Shut it, Darien!" she snarked at him.

"Ouch!" he grunted. "What the hell is on your hand? That hurt."

Before she could react, Darien grabbed her hand and brought it up where he could see it. He froze as soon as he saw her engagement ring. "Who gave you this?" he asked in a tone that implied he kinda didn't really want the answer.

Serena pulled her hand back. "My fiancé, obviously," she told him.

"Who on earth proposed to you?" Darien scoffed, and Serena would have felt insulted, even heart broken, if it weren't for the fact that she'd seen a small flash of jealousy at the word 'fiancé' in his eyes. (this Darien really was _so_ easy for her to read!)

"My devilishly handsome, wickedly smart boyfriend, of course," she told him, waggling her fingers at him, before turning away.

Serena returned to where the bubble in the middle of his apartment was, wondering if she should just go now. So much had already been said, and there were likely other things that would come out the longer the portal remained open. When she returned, she'd contact Amy, get her to analyse the thing, then maybe they could close it. Either that, or get a hold of Sailor Pluto, since this was right up her alley.

She reached out to touch the bubble again, hearing Darien call, "Wait!" and then grab her shoulder as she connected. The white light flashed again, and when the spots had cleared, Darien was with her now in the future.

"What did you do that for?" Serena asked, but didn't wait for an answer as she pulled her communicator back out and dialled up Amy. "Hey, Amy? Can you come over to Darien's, please? Joe's on duty, so he'll just let you right up."

"_I'm in the middle of something, but I __suppose I __can be there in ten minutes if it's important_," Amy told her.

"It _is_ important," Serena said. "Best wait til you get here before I explain, though. It's a doozy, I'll tell you."

"_We'll be __there soon_," Amy said, then switched off.

Serena sighed and put the communicator away. She turned to find Darien snooping through his 'future apartment'.

"Find anything interesting?" she asked.

"…Place looks the same as ever," Darien said.

"Don't I know it," Serena muttered, the said louder, "Well, snoop to your heart's content. It's technically your apartment anyway."

Serena grabbed the manga she'd been reading before this whole thing had happened, picking up right where she'd left off. She heard Darien wandering around, before he eventually came out and sat before her. He was silent awhile, until Serena deigned to look up to see him watching her speculatively.

"Yes?" she asked after he'd still sat there staring at her.

"So, why _are_ you house sitting for me?" he asked.

"You went to Kyoto for a medical seminar," Serena told him. "You've been studying medicine at Tokyo U, and one of your professors suggested that going to the conference would be a good way for you to make important contacts."

Darien looked both surprised and pleased at that information. Serena knew that he'd wanted to be a doctor for the longest time, and she supposed having it confirmed this way for him, knowing that he was actually chasing that dream…

"Yes but… Why _you_?" he pressed.

Serena frowned. "What do you mean by that?" she asked a little defensively.

"It's just… you declared me your 'mortal enemy' the other day," Darien said, "for the _fifth_ time in the last month. The younger you, that is."

"Exactly."

Darien blinked. "Huh?"

"The younger me," Serena told him. "For me, you've been a good friend for a long time now."

"…A good friend?" he asked.

"Well, _more_ than a good friend," she admitted.

He frowned at her. "What do you mean by that?" he parroted her previous words.

Serena opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a knock at the door. She leapt up and rushed over, yanking it open to reveal Amy. She grinned.

"Come in, come in!" Serena greeted.

"Sorry we're late," Amy said, explaining at Serena's confused look, "It's been _more_ than ten minutes."

"O-oh, that's alright," Serena said. "You know I've got no issues with lateness, really."

Amy giggled as she stepped in. "Oh, I know," she said. "But you also know that _we_ do."

"Who's we?" Serena asked, starting to close the door, then 'eep-ing' when it was pushed open as someone else was on the other side.

"_We_ would be me and Amy."

Serena opened the door wider to reveal someone she knew and trusted, but realised that Darien _probably_ wouldn't respond all that well to. And indeed when she turned to look at him, he'd tensed up, anger, confusion, and a little bit of fear (for her and Amy, maybe?) at the sight of the man who'd accompanied her friend. He practically _growled_ out the man's name.

"_Zoycite._"

**So what did you think? Review please!**


	3. Chapter 3

Hi y'all! So, terrible news… I'm abandoning this author profile. :(

_But… _I'm going to post on a fresh, new one! :) In fact, I've already started. It's just that I've got so many fics on here, unfinished and whatnot, and I quite often feel overwhelmed by how much I haven't completed, and it makes me procrastinate like _heck_. So, in the interest of my sanity, I'm dumping it all.

Well, almost all.

I've already posted a version of this for the Naruto and Code Geass fics, now it's the Sailor Moon and Narnia fics turn. The other ones… I adopted a bunch out, but I'm not doing that with these. These ones, I will either continue on my new profile, or they will be 'discontinued'.

I will _definitely_ be continuing In Memory of Me Myself And I, as well as Dark Clouds and Raw Time for Sailor Moon. And for Narnia, definitely Hollow Memories and probably Times Call. And the Narnia/ Doctor Who crossover too. The other Sailor Moon fics… I don't know. Maybe I'll adopt them out, I haven't decided yet.

Anyway, I hope you won't be too put out. Sorry about this, but I really believe this is the only way I can continue writing, and still keep my sanity. :D

The new profile is thatsnotmyname32. Just fanfiction for now, I'll be dealing with AO3 soon.


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